A Wicked Game To Play
by Todd's Pet
Summary: This is a story about Eddie, Sleazy Eddie - and yes, it's sleazy and it's very adult, it couldn't really be anything else! But I hope it also shows how someone who's a match for him can bring another dimension, a sense of depth, to our lovely Eddie!


**A Wicked Game To Play**

Debi longs for love. Her older sisters are all married and seem so happy. It's like they're members of an exclusive club that she can never get into.

Her mother constantly chastises her for still being single at her age – she'll be 27 on her next birthday – but try as she might she can never summon the courage to take that leap.

She has had lovers, plenty of them, but somehow with every single one of them there's something missing, something she can't quite put her finger on…

-oOo-

Then one day she feels it, just fleetingly, that missing something.

The wraith have come to talk with the village elders. Like all the villagers she hides behind locked doors, but unlike the rest of the village she has always felt a strange curiosity about the wraith and she can't resist peeking out of her window.

That's when she sees him.

This wraith is different even from the other wraith. Instead of long, smooth, straight hair, his hair hangs in thick, chunky locks that he has tied in a loose knot at the nape of his neck, a few stray strands hanging down around his face.

Instead of the long coat, buttoned to the neck and long-sleeved, this one wears a short jacket with his leather trousers. At only waist length and short sleeved, it leaves her in no doubt that male wraith are built in pretty much the same way as male humans – perhaps even better…

Where the other wraith she's seen are somber and bad tempered, this one has a wicked gleam in his eye and a self-confident bounce in his stride.

She stands there staring at this wraith, realizing that there is something compelling about him, something she can't quite put her finger on…

Then something astounding happens. The wraith turns and looks straight at her – and winks at her! But she doesn't leap back from the window in fright – instead, she winks back at him! And he rewards her with a smile that thrills her utterly, making her stomach flutter and her heart take flight.

From that day on Debi's dreams of the perfect love that her sisters keep feeding her with are haunted by that wraith's face.

-oOo-

Debi wakes to screams and chaos all around her. She flies out of the door of her cottage, right into the middle of a wraith culling! She can only assume that the elders' negotiations had been unsuccessful.

She's just about to turn on her heel back into her cottage to find a hiding place when she sees him - the dreadlocked wraith who had winked at her last week.

Standing barefoot in her nightgown and shawl, she's rooted to the spot; staring directly into his eyes she is completely unable to move in any direction as he bears down on her with his long, swinging stride. When he gets within arm's length of her he grabs her by the elbow and pushes her along in front of him, saying in a deep, gravely voice, "You're mine!"

-oOo-

Her sisters always chastise her for her fascination with what they regard as monsters; so finding herself among human women who find wraith attractive is a little disconcerting for her. Now in more appropriate clothing, she sits with the worshippers in a room that seems to be put aside just for them. She listens to the general gossip for a while before piping up with a question.

"Em… excuse me, but… what happens next?"

"Which one took her," one of the older women asks another as if she wasn't there.

"Eddie," the other one says.

"Oh my God!" one of the younger women shrieks.

Debi looks alarmed. "What?" she asks, "What's wrong?"

The older woman looks at her and says gently, "You're not… you're not a virgin, are you, dear?"

Debi looks at the woman and frowns, "Of course not! I'm not a child!"

"Well, at least there's that…" the younger woman says in a relieved tone.

The older woman sees Debi screw up her mouth impatiently and adds, "Eddie is a bit different from the other wraith on this hive, dear."

"Yes, I've noticed that already," Debi says insolently.

The woman continues, "No, I mean that his needs are a bit more… demanding than most wraith."

"Oh, just tell her outright, Sally!" another woman says impatiently, "Eddie's a bloody sex maniac, sweetheart! He can't get enough – and the kinkier the better!"

Suddenly all the women are talking at once, flooding her with horror stories about how many women he's worn out! Clearly they are feeling sympathetic towards her because they think he'll use and abuse her then cast her aside, like he has with so many others.

But Debi dares to hope that she might be the one to change him…

-oOo-

She waits in Eddie's room so long that when he finally turns up she's sitting playing puzzle games on the tech system console on a table in the corner.

Eddie sneaks up quietly behind her and she jumps when he speaks. "Do you like games?" he says to her sleazily. "I know some games we can play together that are much more fun than those…"

By the time they've played five rounds of poker, Debi is down to her shift and Eddie has only just taken his weapons belt off.

"You're cheating!" Debi says defiantly. "Just how naive do you think I am?"

"Well, then. Why don't you show me how innocent you're not?" Eddie challenges her, standing up and almost strutting over to where she sits. Without any preamble she slides her hand down his stomach to his groin and grabs a handful of what she can plainly see. "Let's see if you can rise to the challenge," she says, watching as the gleam in Eddie's eyes catches fire.

-oOo-

She lies face down on the bed, gripping the edge to counterbalance herself with the weight of the wraith heavy on her back pushing her deeper into the bed. She'd be afraid of suffocating were it not for the fact that he has a handful of her hair and is pulling her head back with every thrust. She can fully understand why the other women said he'd left a trail of broken bodies as well as broken hearts.

Fortunately she's made of tougher stuff – not only can she cope with him, but she's so infatuated with him that she can even squeeze some kind of pleasure out of it.

Nevertheless, she still winces and grits her teeth as yet another of his enthusiastic kisses overflows into a bite… but she finds herself wondering if, rather than being simply selfish and brutish, this wraith is actually just over-eager and unsophisticated. Is she so in love that she's determined to see good in him, she thinks to herself, or is it really just that he doesn't know his own strength and doesn't mean to hurt her?

-oOo-

She's quieter than all the others, Eddie thinks to himself, but she has more potential; she's strong willed and spirited and there's more to her than meets the eye… a lot more.

He was amazed at first when he realized she was trying to teach him things about her. He had thought there was nothing he needed to learn, but she was starting to show him that trying to be gentle not only gets him what he wants but is more fun for him too!

Eddie whistles softly to himself as he strides along the corridor to his room at the end of his watch. He's finding that he actually looks forward to the end of the day now… to the time when he can be with her.

-oOo-

Debi likes to pamper him; he gets so tense and she likes that she has the ability to relax him. She found the oils while she tidied Eddie's room and revived them with fresh herbs. Now she's rubbing them into his neck and shoulders while he sits and tells her about his day.

It's the little things like this that she likes; his voice is deep and melodic and she loves that there's nothing momentous about what he's telling her, no great adventures, just his ordinary day. She listens to his voice and kneads her fingers deeper into his shoulders, working away the knots of tension.

She eventually has him covered in oil from top to toe. She takes her time with it, watching her own hands moving over his body. She's not the only one. She sees Eddie watching her too; for him this really is an act of worship on her part and he revels in it. She doesn't mind what he calls it – love or worship – she just relishes the time she gets to be with him like this.

His skin is fine-textured and translucent as she slowly runs her oiled hands over the lines and curves of his muscles, committing every inch of him to memory.

She's slathered him with so much oil that, by the time they're finally locked together, she's covered in it too. They slide around each other, she locking her legs around his hips and he wrapping his arms around her shoulders in their efforts to stop from sliding off each other.

She can't help it… she starts to laugh. Within seconds Eddie sees the comical side and starts to laugh too, until eventually they end up in a slippery, tangled heap on the floor, both of them laughing uncontrollably and without a care in the world or a single thought for anyone other than each other.

She lies in his arms in the deep dark of the night, feeling safe with him, even though he is a wraith, and happier than she has ever felt in her entire life. From the depths of her own contentment, Debi just can't help herself and lets slip a whispered "I love you."

"Love?" Eddie roars with laughter.

Debi sits up, pouting, and says, "Don't you love me even just a little bit?"

"Love is a lie!" Eddie growls. "It's nothing more than hormones, just chemical reactions. Sex is all that's real, the only thing that proves you're alive!"

Suddenly Debi looks genuinely upset. Eddie sees this and, not really understanding why he feels the need, he tries to soften the blow of what he said.

"Searching for love is futile, it will only end in tears and give you a lifetime of heartache," Eddie tells her bitterly.

"And if that really is what you believe," she replies, "Then why would you even care if I suffer a lifetime of heartache?"

Eddie can't think of an answer to that.

-oOo-

Several months have gone by and Debi finds herself becoming the centre of attention whenever she goes to the worshipper's common room, which isn't often these days as she doesn't like to listen to them putting Eddie down. One day as she's rounding the end of the corridor to the room she overhears them.

"I've never once heard her complain about him mistreating her…"

"Maybe she likes it!"

"No, there's more to it than that… last week, Sally told me that when she was passing their quarters she heard her laughing!"

"Maybe it's a new game of his…"

"No, she said it was genuine laughter, carefree."

As soon as they realize she's standing in the room, they fall silent and she smiles at them indulgently, these women who understand nothing at all about her Eddie.

"He makes me happy," she states simply.

"Oh, my God, she thinks she's in love…" one of them remarks sarcastically.

"Actually, I don't," Debi retorts hotly, "Love is a lie, a futile search that only leads to heartache…"

"She's even starting to sound like Eddie these days!"

"Well he's right," Debi replies defensively. "And it's remarkably liberating!"

Debi turns her back on the women and strides away, surprised that she believes what she just said. Winding her way back through the hive in the direction she came from she feels lighter on her feet and lighter in her soul.

Eddie has set her free.

-oOo-

"Champagne?" Eddie observes with a smile. "What's the celebration?"

"My freedom from the lie of love and romance!" Debi replies triumphantly.

Eddie smiles as he goes to pour a couple of glasses but she puts her hand on his arm, saying, "Not yet, I have something else in mind first…"

"And what would that be?" he says, grinning.

"It's a new game, baby," she tells him.

Eddie lies back and stretches his spine luxuriously, expecting pretty much the usual, pleasant though it always is.

More than his curiosity is aroused when she takes a mouthful of the champagne and, instead of swallowing, she dips her head down to his groin and takes him into her mouth.

His favorite act of worship, combined with the delicate fizz from the champagne bubbles is so delicious it makes his head spin.

He reaches down and tangles his long, tapered fingers in her hair and groans, "Oh, baby, you are good… you are so good…"

Debi is more or less used to it being over once Eddie's done, so she makes a move to get up from the bed. But this time Eddie snakes his arm around her waist and, pulling her close, he whispers into her hair, "Your turn, baby…"

-oOo-

Eddie feels content for the first time in his very, very long life. He's never been the type to analyze anything much, but he always felt like there's been something missing all this time, something he could never quite put his finger on…

But these last few months it's like he's found it at last – only he doesn't really know what it is he's found! Could it really be the perfect love Debi spoke about the other night? Don't be ridiculous, he tells himself sternly; wraith don't do love!

But he carries on filling the entire room with flowers anyway and lays the box with the dress in it on her bed.

Smiling, he can't quite believe how exciting it is to think up new things to surprise her with – or how much pleasure it gives him when her resultant smile lights up her face. He sits back in the chair, puts his feet up on the table, and waits for her to get back, tapping his claws on the arm of the chair with barely contained excitement.

-oOo-

Debi hurries along the hive corridor, hardly able to restrain herself from running in her haste to see Eddie. He is going to be blown away when he sees what she's got this time! She can't believe how much pleasure she gets just from thinking up new ways to surprise him!

Suddenly she stops dead in the middle of the corridor. This is it, she thinks! That something that's always been missing… she still doesn't know what it actually is, but she does know that she's found it!

My God, she wonders, does this mean that she really does love Eddie, that he loves her? They just have a different way of expressing it, that's all. Hugging the thought close to herself like it was her special secret, she sets off along the corridor again, hurrying to get to Eddie.

-oOo-

Impatient with waiting for her, Eddie rummages in Debi's cupboard. He's looking for that music disc he's heard her listen to – there's one track in particular that he likes. When he finds it he racks the volume up high, swinging his hips and dancing around the room the way he's seen Debi do when she thinks no one is watching her. Lost in his own thoughts, he even starts to sing the lyrics…

_What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way,_

_What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you…_

He's just getting into full swing when he becomes aware of being watched.

He turns and sees Debi standing in the doorway. She's leaning against the wall, swinging and dangling a pair of handcuffs from one finger.

Grinning in that way she does that Eddie finds so utterly irresistible, she says to him, "And just who is playing wicked games with who, Eddie?"

Eddie sashays over to her and grabs the free-swinging bracelet of the cuffs. Pulling her into the room with them, he says, "Oh, we both are, baby, we both are…"

The End


End file.
